Mon 3/9

Jim Gonyea's Contributions

No. What I wrote is that we need to have an adult conversation and the Board of Selectmen need to produce a proposal. Adult conversation has always been lacking on this topic.
Using my name in your comment and adding commentary that I did not write is not appropriate. View Comment

An adult conversation would have debate on all avenues. You don't choose your solution before having the conversation. You have the conversation and debate the options and then allow people to make an informed decision based on the options available. That's what I mean by an adult conversation. View Comment

This is something I would expect to see answered by a proposal from the Board of Selectmen. It's also something I would expect to see come up with a discussion where people can debate it and get answers. Ultimately the people of Leicester have the final say in how we let lack of state or federal aid impact our community and what our response will be. We do have the power to control our own destiny. View Comment

I was in first grade. I remember vaguely my siblings jumping off the second floor porch of the three decker we lived in and landing in a snow pile. I do remember going back to school and playing in the piles of snow in the school yard. They must have been thirty feet high. They towered over the school building. View Comment

I'm not opposed to it, but my question remains what about overnight lockups? Is Leicester going to spend more money in overnight lockups and transportation of people to Worcester? Ruth Kaminski was reported in the last article of mentioning that if you were followed at night by a car and pulled into the police station you might be greated with a locked door. That's something to not overlook. Ultimately the question, if this wasn't pursued, would need to come down to who pays for the continued service? As the Chief commented above the police budget hasn't improved in recent years. Leicester cut the fat years ago, the only thing left to cut is muscle and bone. We are being forced now to request of the services that were considered "must haves" which are now the most important "must haves." The question has always been coming, but now it's an "in your face" question to answer. It can't be put off any longer. View Comment

Ruth Kaminsky asks a good question. I couldn't attend the meeting, but the question I would also ask is around the needs for lock up. Would Leicester now have to send people who are locked up overnight in the Police Station to Worcester and are there hidden costs there in transportation plus overnight stays? View Comment

I don't remember where I saw it, but recently someone wrote "with firearms comes great responsibility." Some people understand how great the responsibility is of owning a firearm and some people don't. The people who don't shouldn't have them, but ultimately how do you figure out who those people are? I think Massachusetts has a good model of training, license, registration and requiring firearms to be secured. Of course that still doesn't prevent someone from being irresponsible in how they store a firearm or who they provide access to their firearms. The whole thing is complicated and will require an adult conversation and I just don't think most people are in a position of having an adult conversation on this topic. View Comment

Difficult question to answer. Thanksgiving should be about family and companies should show some sort of family values by not opening on that day. Except for emergency personnel there really isn't a need to be open 24 hours and 365 days a year. The companies opening on Thanksgiving or even Midnight on Friday are basically saying they don't care about their employees or about providing their employees an opportunity to enjoy a day that has traditionally been about family. The companies that open aren't even getting a competitive advance since every other company makes the same move. It's just a poor strategy from all angles and it's sad that American corporations have decided that chasing a buck a few hours early is worth more than traditional American values. View Comment

I really think the Republican Party needs to take a reality check. The polls were right no matter how much Republican pundits wished they weren't. The fictional President Obama that lives in the Republican fantasy world does not exist. Even now Republicans will refuse to look at the real man and continue to base attacks on the fiction. In the long run is damages their credibility and their ability to continue to attract voters. Unless the Republican Party starts to embrace facts and reality they will see further erosion of their numbers. View Comment

Until this campaign season I was pretty indifferent to Scott Brown. I didn't care for many of his policy points and I didn't vote for him in 2010, but personally other than on policy points I had no disagreement with him. His decision to go negative and in a hard way has turned me off to Scott Brown at a personal level. He had this "nice guy" persona which kept me from actively disliking him, but this campaign flipped me. He ran a really good and clean race in 2010 against Martha Cokaley and the best candidate won. No qualms abou tthat. But now he's running negative and I don't much care for that. He's behind in the polls just like Martha Coakley was in 2010 and he's responsding in the same way. In 2010 he criticized Coakley's tactics (and I agreed with him there), but now he's doing exactly what she did. He's simply not who he portrayed himself to be. View Comment

My doctor can prescribe Oxycontin, but not marijuana. My doctor can prescribe Codine, but not marijuana. I can get drunk on alcohol without a prescription, but my doctor can't prescribe marijuana. I can go into the hospital and be given morphine, but they can't give me marijuana.
Legalize it. Regulate it. Tax it. Treat it like alcohol. View Comment

Republicans will refuse to admit it, but President Obama won this one. He countered Romney and kept him off balance. He moved around and seemed comfortable and he was definitely willing to mix it up. He chastised Romney at one point and Romney took it. President Obama used the phrase "not true" often and with good effect. View Comment

Biden commanded the debate. He controlled the flow and had maximum energy through out. He seemed relaxed and had no issues making his points or his rebuttals. Ryan was even toned and seemed nervous. Ryan was consuming a lot of water which is typically a sign of nervousness. When Ryan made a point Biden was there with a rebuttal. Biden was the aggressor though out the whole debate. Advantage: Biden. But Republicans will say Ryan, but Biden won this. View Comment

I've never understood how unfunded mandates applies in a town that gets sixty percent of it's funding from state or Federal sources. The mandates will be unfunded when they are paid for using money raised by the town. They do not currently exceed that threshhold. So they are funded. View Comment